SPH Welcomes Michele McCay as Interim Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs
Part 1
Dean Giles and Senior Associate Dean Chriqui and the entire SPH community are excited to welcome Michele L. McCay, DrPH, MPH to her new role as Interim Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. Dr. McCay is one of the few faculty in SPH who has taught in all of the degree programs in the School (undergraduate, MPH, MHA, DrPH, MS, and PhD) making her uniquely qualified for this role.
For nearly 25 years, Dr. McCay has led public health initiatives that focus on addressing leadership and administrative needs to best improve public health and maternal and child health outcomes. Most recently, she has focused on teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level, with a particular interest in demonstrating the skills of teaching excellence within university faculty and staff.
A 2022 and 2025 Golden Apple Award winner, Dr. McCay enjoys teaching as well as exploring both the art and science of teaching. She is a co-facilitator in the Center for the Advancement of Teaching Excellence’s (CATE) Inclusive Education Scholar Certificate Program (IESCP) where she leads sessions focused on evidence-based tools and practices for inclusive teaching practice. Dr. McCay has also been a member of several SPH committees (including the Undergraduate and Global Health Program Oversight Committees) and served as the Faculty Co-Lead of the Committee on Educational Programs, Accreditation, Review, and Reporting (CE-PARR) Experiential Learning Workgroup last academic year.
part 2
Building on her experiential learning leadership, Dr. McCay is the Applied Practice Experience Advisor for the MPH Program in the Division of Health Policy & Administration. Through this work she guides students in strengthening their public health skills and competencies.
Dr. McCay currently uses her public health practice and maternal and child health leadership skills as a member of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee on Violent Deaths. In this role, she provides State and National recommendations for reducing the risk for women’s violent deaths during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. She is an active member of the American Public Health Association’s Health Administration Section, having held several Section leadership roles over the years including Chair of the Health Administration Section.
A longtime member of the University of Illinois community, Dr. McCay earned her DrPH and MPH degrees from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health and her Bachelor’s in Community Health Sciences, with a focus on Health Administration and Planning, from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.